The Fjord Cowboys are a pair of “dynamite buddies” and cider-makers who live on the shores of the Hardanger Fjord. Lothepus is a top excavator, an expert on everything from drilling rigs to dynamite, while Joar (nicknamed “the Hardanger Casanova”) is his apprentice. We accompany the pair from the apple harvest through to cider-pressing in the late autumn, sharing their adventures, challenges, setbacks, successes and failures. And in the process, we also discover Lothepus and Joar’s joys and dreams.

The series will take us beyond the familiar picture-postcard image of Hardanger to reveal a different picture of how life is actually lived in the fjords. These are 21st century cowboys, born to live life to the full. And the same could be said for the colourful gang of eccentrics that make up their entourage. While they might not be street-wise, they are certainly fjord-wise, and their approach to work, family and partying reflect a hardy and irreverent personal philosophy that is all their own.

We soon come to realise that despite their lack of convention and somewhat shabby appearance, Joar and Lothepus are in fact a pair of astute and enterprising businessmen. When he isn’t busy working or busy sinking pints with his millionaire pals, Lothepus concentrates his energies on preparations to record his second album - to be released on his own label. Joar, for his part, was once Norway’s youngest hotel manager, and currently has shareholdings in a hotel in Etne as well as a pair of restaurants in Stavanger. Away from business, he is a keen chef, often being called upon to perform his speciality: roast pig - a whole one of course, done in the traditional manner, buried in a pit and slow-roasted for 8 hours.

The leading and supporting characters each have their own struggles to contend with. They have children to raise, projects to execute and loved ones to deal with, and their particular zest for life does not always match other peoples’ expectations. These are Hardanger locals who have grown up beyond the reaches of the christianity- They have no fear of authority, they heartily dismiss their Norwegian compatriots’ concept of janteloven- which views individual success and achievement with unease, instead they play by their own rules, they enjoy sex and “Hardanger Speed" (cider), whenever the opportunity arises for either - or more commonly, both. They are hedonists and proud of it. (See synopsis)

The series will be explicit, raw and downright sexy- and it will all be played out against the inscrutable majesty of the fjord, a landscape that veers between beauty and brutality. The series aims to introduce viewers to men who harbour a devil-may-care attitude to life, who exhibit a flagrant joie de vivre, and reveals the challenges that living a life like this entails. It will entertain – and, not least, inspire.